Cannot access printer with laptop on MSW XP home network

Hi Guys 'n' Gals,

Let me thank you all in advance for any helpful advice you might be able to give in solving this pro'lem.

I cannot print from my upstairs wireless laptop (HP Pavilion ze2000, Windows XP) to a downstairs printer (HP OfficeJet G85xi) connected to a (downstairs) desktop (Dell Dimension 8200, Windows XP).

The Desktop accesses the internet through its connection to an Actiontec DSL Modem equipped with wireless gateway. The Actiontec is hooked to a line from Century Link, the phone company. The laptop accesses the internet through the wireless gateway.

Installed is a Microsoft Windows home network named MSHome on which both computers reside.

From the desktop: (my network places>entire network>microsoft windows network>mshome>) it shows both (laptop and desktop) computers and their respective shared properties; from the desktop I can access everything shared on the laptop.

However, from the laptop, taking the same path as in the paragraph above, when I right click on 'mshome' and click on 'properties,' I get this message: Mshome is not accessible. You might not have permission to use the network resource. Contact the administrator of this server to find out if you have access permissions. The network path was not found.

So, bottom line, I can access all shared resources on the laptop from the desktop. However, I cannot access any designated shared resources on the desktop from the laptop.....most significantly the printer, which has been designated as a "shared" printer in the Mshome network from the desktop side.

Final note: in the distant (two to three years) past, we could print from the laptop to the printer in the manner I am trying to do now, but we lost that ability.

Thanks again for any helpful insights that might be coming this way.

 

Hi Zamorazeke,

First try turning off any firewalls you might have running...Windows firewall and/or firewalls from other providers, then try to access your desktop and printer from your laptop.

Then let us know how it goes.

Good Luck.

 

Thanks for your suggestions.

I have Windows firewall and the firewall in Avast.

I turned off Windows firewall first and I was able to see the desktop from the laptop. Then I turned off Avast firewall and I was able to see the desktop, the shared documents and the printer.

I then went in and adjusted the Avast firewall policies to use separate settings for each firewall mode: 1) Home/Low Risk Zone; 2) Work/Medium Risk Zone; and 3) Public/High Risk Zone. Finally I chose options given in each zone... In the Home/Low Risk Zone I chose the 'allow' option...and the appropriate options for the other two zones.

So now both firewalls have been re-activated and I can see and interact on the home wireless network with the desktop from the laptop. Especially, I can print from the laptop on the printer attached to the desktop.

To reiterate what I said at the beginning of this post: Thanks so much for your suggestions. Everything is working GREAT!:wave